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Leviticus 14

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Law for Cleansing the Leper 1–9

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And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,
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This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: he shall be brought unto the priest: ​
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and the priest shall go forth out of the camp; and the priest shall look; and, behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper, ​
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then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two living clean birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: ​
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and the priest shall command to kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water.
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As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water: ​
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and he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let go the living bird into the open field.
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And he that is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and bathe himself in water; and he shall be clean: and after that he shall come into the camp, but shall dwell outside his tent seven days. ​
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And it shall be on the seventh day, that he shall shave all his hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair he shall shave off: and he shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and he shall be clean.

The Purification Sacrifices 10–20

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And on the eighth day he shall take two he-lambs without blemish, and one ewe-lamb a year old without blemish, and three tenth parts of an ephah of fine flour for a meal-offering, mingled with oil, and one log of oil. ​
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And the priest that cleanseth him shall set the man that is to be cleansed, and those things, before Jehovah, at the door of the tent of meeting.
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And the priest shall take one of the he-lambs, and offer him for a trespass-offering, and the log of oil, and wave them for a wave-offering before Jehovah: ​
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and he shall kill the he-lamb in the place where they kill the sin-offering and the burnt-offering, in the place of the sanctuary: for as the sin-offering is the priest’s, so is the trespass-offering: it is most holy.
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And the priest shall take of the blood of the trespass-offering, and the priest shall put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot. ​
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And the priest shall take of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand;
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and the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven times before Jehovah.
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And of the rest of the oil that is in his hand shall the priest put upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, upon the blood of the trespass-offering: ​
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and the rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he shall put upon the head of him that is to be cleansed: and the priest shall make atonement for him before Jehovah.
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And the priest shall offer the sin-offering, and make atonement for him that is to be cleansed because of his uncleanness: and afterward he shall kill the burnt-offering;
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and the priest shall offer the burnt-offering and the meal-offering upon the altar: and the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean.

The Offering for the Poor 21–32

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And if he be poor, and cannot get so much, then he shall take one he-lamb for a trespass-offering to be waved, to make atonement for him, and one tenth part of an ephah of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal-offering, and a log of oil; ​
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and two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, such as he is able to get; and the one shall be a sin-offering, and the other a burnt-offering.
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And on the eighth day he shall bring them for his cleansing unto the priest, unto the door of the tent of meeting, before Jehovah:
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and the priest shall take the lamb of the trespass-offering, and the log of oil, and the priest shall wave them for a wave-offering before Jehovah.
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And he shall kill the lamb of the trespass-offering; and the priest shall take of the blood of the trespass-offering, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot.
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And the priest shall pour of the oil into the palm of his own left hand;
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and the priest shall sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before Jehovah:
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and the priest shall put of the oil that is in his hand upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, upon the place of the blood of the trespass-offering:
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and the rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he shall put upon the head of him that is to be cleansed, to make atonement for him before Jehovah.
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And he shall offer one of the turtle-doves, or of the young pigeons, such as he is able to get,
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even such as he is able to get, the one for a sin-offering, and the other for a burnt-offering, with the meal-offering: and the priest shall make atonement for him that is to be cleansed before Jehovah.
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This is the law of him in whom is the plague of leprosy, who is not able to get that which pertaineth to his cleansing. ​

The Law Concerning Leprosy in a House 33–53

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And Jehovah spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, ​
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When ye are come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession; ​
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then he that owneth the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, There seemeth to me to be as it were a plague in the house.
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And the priest shall command that they empty the house, before the priest goeth in to see the plague, that all that is in the house be not made unclean: and afterward the priest shall go in to see the house: ​
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and he shall look on the plague; and, behold, if the plague be in the walls of the house with hollow streaks, greenish or reddish, and the appearance thereof be lower than the wall;
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then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days.
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And the priest shall come again the seventh day, and shall look; and, behold, if the plague be spread in the walls of the house;
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then the priest shall command that they take out the stones in which the plague is, and cast them into an unclean place without the city:
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and he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the mortar, that they scrape off, without the city into an unclean place:
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and they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and he shall take other mortar, and shall plaster the house.
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And if the plague come again, and break out in the house, after that he hath taken out the stones, and after he hath scraped the house, and after it is plastered;
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then the priest shall come in and look; and, behold, if the plague be spread in the house, it is a fretting leprosy in the house: it is unclean.
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And he shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the mortar of the house; and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place. ​
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Moreover he that goeth into the house all the while that it is shut up shall be unclean until the even.
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And he that lieth in the house shall wash his clothes; and he that eateth in the house shall wash his clothes.
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And if the priest shall come in, and look, and, behold, the plague hath not spread in the house, after the house was plastered; then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed.
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And he shall take to cleanse the house two birds, and cedar-wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:
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and he shall kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water:
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and he shall take the cedar-wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times:
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and he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, and with the running water, and with the living bird, and with the cedar-wood, and with the hyssop, and with the scarlet:
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but he shall let go the living bird out of the city into the open field: so shall he make atonement for the house; and it shall be clean. ​

Summary of the Laws of Tzara'at 54–57

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This is the law for all manner of plague of leprosy, and for a scall,
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and for the leprosy of a garment, and for a house,
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and for a rising, and for a scab, and for a bright spot;
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to teach when it is unclean, and when it is clean: this is the law of leprosy. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Leviticus 14

Verse 2

the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing — The rite is for one already healed (v.3), not a cure; 'cleansing' (tohorah) is the word of the purification. Christ applied it to the cleansed: 'shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them' (Matt 8:4).

Verse 3

go forth out of the camp — The leper still lives outside (Lev 13:46), so the priest goes to him. 'Healed' is rapha, the verb of Ex 15:26, 'I am the LORD that healeth thee'. The priest looks and confirms; the healing comes before the rite. The ten of Luke 17:14 were cleansed 'as they went' to the priests.

Verse 4

cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop — The same three are cast 'into the midst of the burning of the heifer' in Num 19:6. 'Scarlet' here is two words, shani and tola'ath, the crimson worm. Hyssop is the plant of the Passover blood (Ex 12:22), and David prays, 'Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean' (Ps 51:7).

Verse 6

dip them and the living bird in the blood — The living bird, taken with the cedar, scarlet and hyssop, is dipped in the blood of the bird killed 'over the running water'; the Hebrew for 'running' is chai, living, the same word as 'alive'. Verse 7 sprinkles the leper seven times and lets the living bird 'loose into the open field'.

Verse 8

wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair — He washes, shaves and bathes before returning to the camp, much as the Levites were cleansed: 'let them shave all their flesh, and let them wash their clothes' (Num 8:7). He still stays 'abroad out of his tent seven days', and on the seventh day shaves and washes again (v.9).

Verse 10

on the eighth day — The offerings come on the eighth day: two he lambs, one ewe lamb, three tenth deals of flour and 'one log of oil'. The log is a small liquid measure, named only in this chapter. The eighth day also marks the priests' first service (Lev 9:1) and a son's circumcision (Lev 12:3).

Verse 12

one he lamb… for a trespass offering — The first sacrifice is the trespass offering (asham, as in Lev 7:1), waved with the log of oil 'before the LORD' (tenuphah), as the ram of consecration was (Ex 29:24). Its law is that of Lev 7: 'as the sin offering is the priest's, so is the trespass offering' (v.13).

Verse 14

the tip of the right ear… thumb… great toe — The blood falls on the same three places as at the consecration of Aaron and his sons: 'the tip of the right ear … the thumb of their right hand, and … the great toe of their right foot' (Ex 29:20; Lev 8:23–24). The cleansed man is marked as the priests were.

Verse 17

upon the blood of the trespass offering — The oil goes on the same three places, over the blood, so the order is blood first and oil after. The oil is taken from the log poured into the priest's left palm and sprinkled seven times before the LORD (vv.15–16); what remains is poured on the head of the one cleansed (v.18).

Verse 21

if he be poor — Dal, poor, and 'cannot get so much' is, in the Hebrew, that his hand cannot reach it. He brings one lamb for the trespass offering, one tenth deal of flour, and a log of oil, and two turtledoves or young pigeons for the sin and burnt offerings (v.22). Lev 5:7 and 12:8 make the same provision.

Verse 32

whose hand is not able to get — The verb nasag, to reach, is the same as in v.21 and in vv.22, 30–31 ('such as he is able to get', v.22). The summary shows that the poor man's offering is as full a law as the other: with it, 'the priest shall make an atonement for him that is to be cleansed before the LORD' (v.31).

Verse 33

unto Moses and unto Aaron — A new address to both brothers, as in Lev 13:1, opens the law of leprosy in houses (vv.34–53). The first address introduced the law for persons and garments; this one takes it into the dwellings of the promised land.

Verse 34

the land of Canaan, which I give to you — The law is spoken before Israel enters, and holds only 'in a house of the land of your possession'. The gift is the one made to Abraham: 'all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession' (Gen 17:8). In this case the LORD says of the plague, 'I put' it.

Verse 36

empty the house — The priest has the house emptied before he looks, 'that all that is in the house be not made unclean'. Only then does he go in 'to see the house'. If he finds the plague 'greenish or reddish' in the walls (v.37), he shuts up the house seven days (v.38) and returns on the seventh (v.39).

Verse 45

break down the house — After the stones are taken out, the house scraped and plastered (vv.40–43), a plague that breaks out again is 'a fretting leprosy' (v.44, the word of Lev 13:52). Then the house is pulled down, and its stones, timber and mortar are carried 'out of the city into an unclean place'.

Verse 53

let go the living bird — The rite of vv.4–7 is repeated for a cleansed house (vv.49–52): the same two birds, cedar, scarlet and hyssop, and the blood and running water, sprinkled seven times. The living bird goes 'out of the city into the open fields', as the leper's bird did, and 'atonement' (kaphar) is made for the house.

Verse 57

To teach when it is unclean, and when it is clean — Yarah, to teach, is the root of torah, 'law', which ends the verse. The purpose clause echoes Lev 10:10–11, where the priests are to 'put difference between holy and unholy' and teach Israel. Ezek 44:23 repeats it: 'they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane'.